Bless your heart!!!

Moving might be an option.

Or taking your friend Mr. Glock to see the landlord.

Heh. But I don't know. I was expecting a shaggy dog to show up at the end of that story.

I guess there is a benefit to being on a septic tank after all???

I almost missed living near other people. Thanks!

I hope you're OK.

You seriously must move. I don't think I could ever enter that bathroom again.

Moxie your story is not as boring as you think it is, although it is unfortunately ordinary in the sense that it happens all the time.

For example, this same scenario (except I only have one cat) happened to me several weeks ago. The bizarre noises woke me from a sound sleep and scared the bejabbers out of me.

When I calmed down I realized I was angry. Invasion of privacy, loss of sleep due to other people being stupid, not boring issues at all.

Thanks for sharing your experience, it was very well written.

Entertaining, and scary. I want to buy you a complemetary can of Lysol... and a new toothbsursh.

Cheers!

He was snaking a neighbors toilet and it came out your sink?
Condos, apartments and duplexes usually have the mirror/reverse floorplans where all the apartments are the same but reversed.

Even so there are building codes they have to follow that seem to have been ignored in your case.
Even if your bathrooms are next to each other a plumber is not supposed to be able to run a snake from one to the other.
Let alone run one from one commode to the opposite sink.

Sewer tie ins are angled down at 22 1/2, 30 and 45 degrees. They don't tie in at 90 degrees.

One of the reasons they don't tie in at 90 is to avoid the exact thing you experienced.
If there's a 2 in 1 tie in to the sewer line (like yours) the tie ins are supposed to be offset a little bit to prevent the commode to commode connection.

How it went from their commode to your sink I have no idea.

Must be that Mexifornia Engineering.

I'd sue somebody if I were you if only to make a point.
Then move.

Joat, this building was constructed in the late 1920's...I don't know what the plumbing codes were like then, and it seems, given my experience that there weren't any.

I wish i had taken a picture, but dammit it, I got so wrapped up in the tug-of-war game.

Call me mean if you must, but secretly I hope that poop ends up in my neighbor's sink.

Why is it that things always turn shitty when I have a hangover?

Yeah, it's happened to me. Or, well, I did the same thing. Kinda.

http://neanderpundit.com/archives/000345.html

Sinks are supposed to have "sanitary" T fittings and commodes have "compound".

A sanitary T fitting ties into the stack at the wall, above floor level. The compound fitting is a bent angle fitting and all compound fittings are supposed to be horizontal not vertical.

The commode ties into the stack at below floor level grade with a compound fitting and the sink ties in at around 16" above floor level ith a sanitary fitting.

That's why I can't understand how that happened.
When done properley there is no way that should happen.

I don't know about your state but building codes have remained fairly the same for over a century.
The materials might change but the fundamental methods are solid.
As far as plumbing goes, water always flows down hill, the path of least resistance.

Except for higher volumes and doing away with lead pipes, the principle can't change.

Your plumbing is screwed up.

I had a noise coming from my toilet once. Clonk, Clonk, Clonk. When I opened the bathroom door, I saw the toilet seat opening about 1/4" and then shutting, opening - shutting (hence the clonk noise). I opened up the lid and there it was, a very stinky squirrel. Obviously it fell down the "stack" as Joat the plumber calls it. Poor thing couldn't turn around or climb back out so he kept going where he could, which led him to my terlet. It was stinky, but alive! I grabbed him/it with a towel, put him outside and he scooted off.

I'm not technically a plumber. It's just something I could do if I wanted to.

That's where the Joatmoaf, Jack Of All Trades Master Of A Few, comes in handy.

I don't do residential or commercial plumbing anymore. It's dirty, nasty, hard work and we have regular plumbers for that.
I do however, sometimes have to repair or install lift stations, pump house gear and other industrial type plumbing.

I do structual, mechanical and electrical maintenance, repair and construction at an NAS in Florida.
I'm a Maintenance Mechanic so all of those trades are a part of my job discription (and more), but mostly structual and mechanical.

I also used to work for the Army Corps of Engineers.

That sucks.
You know you can move to Ky. 3 large bedrooms, garage, carport, gazebo, dining room, living room, 1 acre. 650$ a month. Brick.
Neighbors stay away, just a few rounds of .357 a month out back, at cans. No problems. It does get kinda cold in the winter, and hot in the summer. Thats what A/C is for.

the problem is more complicated than moving, or suing the owner.



a) moving is expensive and chaotic. assuming you can get a cheaper rent, then you have to amortize your moving costs to arrive at your actual savings. usually these costs are never amortized which means the move was a net loss. and just try getting cheaper rents in an neighbohood you would actually consider moving to.



b) the owner cannot be sued because the building (as most older buildings have) most likely has been "grand-fathered" by the updated building codes. the owner cannot be compelled to gut the building to bring the plumbing to code.



it seems the biggest problem is the number of people living in the apartment next door. this is a problem you
can solve. a simple call to the county health department will solve this. they
will keep your call confidential. the reason you can complain is incorporated into state law:



Health & Safety Code § 17992(a) (1) (incorporating by reference ICBO Uniform Housing Code § 503.2).



Room dimensions (b) Floor Area: Dwelling units and congregate residences shall have at least one room which shall have not less than 120 square feet of floor area. Other habitable rooms, except kitchens, shall have an area of not less than 70 square feet.



Where more than two persons occupy a room used for sleeping purposes (cannot include living room), the required floor area shall be increased at the rate of 50 square feet for each occupant in excess of two.



the health department will come out, inspect the premises and issue a citation to the owner. he will have 30 days to fix it. if not rectified daily fines start kicking in. easy, no fuss, no muss and the county does all the work for you.

Actually it's not really that complicated.

If you can't afford a plumber and someone to patch the hole ( Union Plumber = $68 hour X 2, regular plumber about 2/3 that. Union and other plumbers charge to and from drive time, and parts)
Do it yourself or get your pool boy "What's his name" to do it and it'll cost about $15.

Behind the wall and under your bathroom sink you'll see the drain pipe that comes from the wall to the P-trap, (Shaped like an upside down and backwards "P") drain on the sink.

Dis-connect the P-trap from the sink and wall drain. the fittings should only be hand tight but you'll probably need some Channel Locks™.

After that, cut a square hole in the wall around the drain pipe.
The hole should be at least 8" (inches) high and wide for access to the sanitary T. The bigger the better though.
It's better to cut it evenly than to just bang a hole. Makes it easier to patch after the job.

The sink drain will tie into the stack, and depending on who did the plumbing and how many lines are tied into it, the stack shouldn't be any larger than 4".
It'll probably be 2' though as it's a sanitary stack (above the waste sewage).
If it's an iron pipe like I think it is you can cut the sanitary T off above and below.
Make sure the stack is secured to the wall or roof first or it will slip down when cut. It should already be so, but make sure.
If it's all PVC pipe then your job is much easier.

Take the T out and put your new one in.

Now, If it's an iron pipe you'll need to put rubber sleves on the outside of the cut ends, the ends you just cut off, top and bottom. Then clamp them to the pipe. Then put inserts into the rubber sleves that you can attach the new sanitary T too.
Clamp the inserts.

Use PVC sanitary Ts and add the cleaner to the insert (the one(s) on the stack that you just installed) and the inside of the T (both sides if it is also connected to your neighbors), let dry, apply glue and put it all together while the glue is wet (the glue melts the PVC) hold in place for about 10 seconds.

After a minute or so, turn the sink on and look for leaks. If you did it right there wont be any.

Patch your hole with wall patches. They are metal and mesh tape squares and come in a variety of sizes.

Use a few if you have to and cut them to go around the pipe.
1 quart of spackling paste, a drywall mud knife, sandpaper, paint and, as those nasty Phrench say "Voila"

But the best way to cut the hole is to cut it so you can put a little access panel on it after your done.
Just cut a square of plywood, cut a hole where the drain pipe is going to be, and then rip the plywood down the center, from top to bottom.

After your done with your plumbing project simply screw one side of plywood on the hole and around the pipe, then match up the other and screw into place and paint.
Again, from those nasty Phrench, "Voila".

Or just e-mail me and I'll walk you through it.
It's really not that difficult and should only take about an hour.

If you decide to call a plumber instead, at least make sure he's a good plumber.

There are too many Posers out there in the Trades industry.

have you considered the fun you could have? if your sink is connected.... you should be able to use a plunger, or compressed air to push things into their toilet.

noisy neighbors? heh! you could give them something to scream about.